The Good Life: Tuck Into a Good Book

12. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

The book gained notoriety as the centerpiece for The Hours, the book and later a film that starred Nicole Kidman in her Oscar-winning portrayal of Woolf. Published in 1925, Mrs. Dalloway is the story of one day in the life of a woman, intricately interwoven with flashbacks. The book is a quick read, but it is doubtful that Woolf intended it to be so. Troubled with mental illness for most of her adult life, Woolf attempted suicide several times until she finally succeeded March 28, 1941. Not one to do things the easy way, Wolfe loaded her dress up with rocks and drowned herself in a river.

13. Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence

This novel was banned as pornographic at one time in the U.K. and the U.S. My high school librarian, a devout Pentecostal snake handler, required parental permission before I, or any of my classmates, could check it out. The hubbub was a little overblown. Hardly pornographic, Lady Chatterley's Lover is a riveting story of a married woman who has an affair with a bloke who works on her husband's estate. D.H. Lawrence lived most of his controversy through his novels, although after the First World War, he was harassed by many in England as a German sympathizer. He died young, at age 44, in Vence, France, in 1930.

14. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The story of Hester Prynne, who bears an illegitimate child in 17th century Puritan New England, is a timeless tale of anger, regret and revenge. Hawthorne, a native New Englander, wrote the novel in 1850, and later became recognized as a leader in the Transcendentalist Movement, with fellow authors Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Hawthorne is the best of the lot, although his work is undeservedly omitted from many best-ever lists. Hawthorne died at 59 in Concord, Mass., in 1864.

15. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Few authors had the depth and breadth of Dickens, who reached his peak of brilliance with A Tale of Two Cities. Using the backdrop of the French Revolution, Dickens creates a bounty of characters that move effortlessly through the pages, weaving a story of intrigue and empathy. Dickens wrote this novel in installments from 1857 through 1859, during an unhappy period of his life. He would soon leave his wife, with whom he had 10 children, and dump his publishers. Dickens continued to write until his death, of a stroke, on June 9, 1870. He was 58 years old.

And now, the pulp list:

1. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Forget all about the four-hour movie and the on-screen kisses and hisses of Gable and Leigh; the book is three times better than the movie. Mitchell's novel is elegantly written and filled with vivid detail and Southern history. Most critics do not consider Gone with the Wind a masterpiece, although it has set the standard for the American novel, at least in the pulp genre. Mitchell was applauded for her work, however, winning the Pulitzer Prize for the novel in 1936. Mitchell, though, would meet an untimely end. She was struck by a taxi while crossing a street in Atlanta in 1949, and died five days later. She was 48 years old.

2. Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann

They don't write trash like they used to, and Susann was one of the all-time greats. When she died in 1974, the pulp world lost a voice that was provocative and searing. Valley of the Dolls is the story of three young career women who run into bad men and hard times in their respective big cities. What are they to do but treat their miseries with narcotics? The book was a sensation when it was released in 1966, eventually becoming one of the world's all-time bestsellers. On one all-time list of bestsellers, "Valley of the Dolls" ranks 10th, behind the perennially top-ranked Bible. You can read this one quickly. They'll be no need to pause and admire the writing, which is mediocre, at best.